Mercy Corps suspends northeast Syria work, evacuates foreign staff

Mercy Corps said it is suspending operations and evacuating foreign staff from northeast Syria, where fighting has uprooted more than 130,000 people in recent days.

The international aid agency, which had been delivering aid to northeast Syria since 2014, said it was providing civilians with fresh water and other basic needs since Turkey launched an incursion into the region last week.

“We just cannot effectively operate with the heavy shelling, roads closing, and the various and constantly changing armed actors in the areas where we are working,” Made Ferguson, Mercy Corps’ Deputy Country Director for Syria said in the statement.